The Radio Station visit

I'm going to break from the story I was telling to share some recent news with you. Last night we went to a house meeting where the pastor from Tanzania, Pastor Richard, gave a sermon. The meeting was held in the home of Wayne and Rev. Debra Zimmer. Their ministry is End Time Glory Ministries and she is the evangelist we have been working with.

Pastor Richard's sermon was about thirsting for God. Are we truly thirsting for God? If we are then we should be spending time in his presence...often. Another question is what are we doing during that time? Are we only asking for our requests to be filled? How does it feel as a parent when my child only comes to me when they want something? "Mommy, I want this. Daddy, I want that." Sometimes we just want our children to come and sit with us and visit. God feels the same. Also, when we are spending time with God, are we waiting for Him to speak to us? It is easy to pray and run as I call it. So many people say that God doesn't speak to them but are they really waiting in the quiet to hear His voice?

After the meeting, Rev. Debra ministered over Shannon and I by speaking over us. She said that Shannon would be preaching(although he has repeatedly said he doesn't feel able) and teaching the men both practically and spiritually. That I would be teaching the women and ministering to the orphans and that our time to be in Tanzania was coming swiftly. We both felt very encouraged as she gave this word. It was a great evening.

Then this afternoon, Rev. Debra, Pastor Richard, Shannon and myself, traveled to the area Christian Radio Station to meet with Dave McIver, the station manager. Dave has a heart for Africa and the station is already helping with Christian broadcasting through 5 different locations in Uganda and Ghana. We were there to share with him our visions for Mwanza of a radio station broadcasting from the same property the orphanage will be located on. He was excited to give us tour of their new building and hear of the plans we have. He also talked with us about how Praise FM can play a part in helping us with that. We will remain in touch with him through this process and look forward to a possible partnership with the station. It was fun to meet the man behind the voice that I hear on the radio each morning.

Over these past 24 hours it has become completely real that this is happening. We will be moving to Tanzania, probably by this time next year. We now are feeling an urgency to start sharing our hearts with close friends and family in hopes that they will be able to somewhat understand this heaviness on our hearts for the people and orphans of Africa.

Getting to Africa

Several months later, the evangelist that Shannon had travelled with to Haiti asked for prayer in our prayer class at church for her upcoming trips, two of which were to Africa-to the East African countries of Kenya and Tanzania. Of course my interest was piqued, especially because I had previously met the woman she would be working with in Kenya. This native Kenyan had travelled with Shannon's group to Haiti and she also ran an orphanage in Kenya. While in our area, Shannon and I had had the opportunity to meet with her to talk about the African orphans. Our hearts were both affected by the stories she had told. I couldn't help but want to be on this upcoming trip to Kenya.

Again, I was told, this time by a friend that had travelled to Haiti on other trips, that the evangelist probably would not want me to go to Kenya until I had first travelled with her to an easier country. I was disappointed, but determined to at least talk with her about it. So I did. After prayer class one day I approached her to ask her about the possibility of accompanying her to Kenya. She asked if I would be interested in travellling to either Haiti or Jamaica first. I expressed to her that I really wasn't feeling drawn to either of those countries. I told her that as a former Marine, I felt I could handle the travel conditions of Africa and asked her to please pray about it. She said she would.

A couple of weeks later, she and I met in her home to discuss this further. She told me that she felt at peace with taking me along to either Kenya or Tanzania. So we sat and discussed the details of the two diferent trips. The Holy Spirit did His work. I went into the meeting, planning for Kenya. The trip involved seeing a woman I already knew that lived over there and visiting her orphanage. With my heart for the children this would be perfect I thought but, somehow, by the time we were done talking, I knew, that I was supposed to go to Tanzania. The timing of the trip was not as good as the Kenya trip and it was probably going to cost more but I knew I needed to obey the Spirits leading. We both decided to pray about it and connect later.

I think it was the next Sunday in prayer class that we talked again and I told her it was to be Tanzania. Thankfully she agreed with me on that and the preparations to go to Tanzania began.

I remember when I told my parents. My dad wondered why Africa. Why would I want to go to such an unsettled continent, with so much Civil War and tribal fighting? Why to such a poverty-stricken and disease-filled place? All I could tell him was that that was exactly why I wanted and needed to go there. Because so many of the people in Africa have not yet heard the name of Jesus. Because Jesus is their only hope.

That summer Shannon and I took our children, and our then foster daughter, to Duluth. We wanted a nice vacation but needed to stay within the state due to the legalities of trvelling with a foster child. Shannon had never been to Duluth so we decided that would be a good trip. While we were there we visited the aquarium that is there. Duluth is situated on the shores of Lake Superior which is the largest freshwater lake in the world. That summer, the aquarium had dedicated their entire lower level to a display about Lake Victoria. Lake Victoria is the second largest freshwater lake in the world. It is located in Africa and the country of Tanzania is located on the southern shores of it. One of the cities we were to visit was the most major port of the entire lake. I thought this was a great coincidence and was excited and thrilled to be able to look at the items on display, watch the videos and hear the audios about the place I was soon going to visit.

Where do I start?

The question running through my mind is, where to start. Do I start with each of our births, LOL? No. That would be a bit long and I'd lose everyone. So I guess I will start with when the word Africa first passed through our lips.

It was about 5-6 years ago that my husband, Shannon, received a word over him that he would one day be involved in full-time ministry. I remember at the time being excited but wary. My husband, possibly a pastor? (The job of pastor is what most of us think of first isn't it?) But more importantly me, a pastor's wife? I wasn't sure this was something I would be able to do and I was certainly sure it wasn't something I wanted to do. I jokingly said to a friend at church, "Oh great. He'll end up in full-time misssions and drag me off to someplace like Africa," with a giggle and a roll of the eyes. My friend told me to be careful. That sometimes when we speak like that it is because God has actually already put that on our hearts. As I thought about that a bit and the word given over Shannon, I realized that orphans have always been on my heart. After all, Shannon and I are licensed foster parents and have even adopted a daughter through the foster care system. But even more on my heart, were the orphans of Africa, many of which are orphaned because of the AIDs epidemic.

It semed that everywhere I turned was Africa. On the news, in the magazines, in pictures, even in the mail. As my heart was stirred more and more, I began to have a burning desire to go to Africa. I wanted to see the children and love on them and tell them about Jesus. Missionaries would come to our church, sometimes from Africa, sometimes from other places and my desire continued to grow stronger.

Then in 2003, Shannon joined a team travelling to Haiti(near Cuba) on a missions trip. He was gone for 12 days and it was a life-changing experience for him. He saw the poverty, the filth, and the orphans. He greived over what he witnessed and told me I had to go see it for myself. I told him at the time, I will go...to Africa...but not to Haiti, at this point. I reminded him that the evangelist he travelled with to Haiti, also travels to Africa and that maybe someday I would go with her there. Shannon told me then, that this evangelist usually wants people who travel with her to go to an easier assignment first like Haiti or Jamaica, rather than Africa. Travel in Africa is a lot more dificult than the other places and it is prudent for the evangelist to know the people travelling with her will be able to handle the trip. Although I understood why, I was disappointed to hear this and began to pray for God to send someone to me and show me who I was to travel, with as I knew by this time it was going to happen. I just didn't know how. With who? When? Those were the questions I needed to wait for an answer for. Fortunately, I didn't need to wait long.

Why am I here?

Here I am. Starting a blog after wondering for a long time why I, or anyone for that matter, would want to do so. It has finally occurred to me how very valuable this could be-to myself, my husband, my children, my extended family and friends, as well as many others. As my husband and I are looking at a likely move into the long-term missions field, this can serve as a place for me to collect our thoughts and share with others, our hearts. I am well aware there are those who will think we are crazy, those who have absolutely no understanding of why we would take our family to a foreign land. A land with seemingly less but in reality, more. More opportunities to share what we have-our finances, our love, our faith-with those who have so much less. More opportunities to make a diference for God's kingdom.

I hope to spend the next several weeks documenting briefly our journey through to reach this point in our lives and hope that eventually, this blog will serve as a place for our family, friends and supporters to come-to connect with us as we are in a far away place-to hear about how and what our family is doing, in our efforts to touch heaven...and change the earth...while we are on it.